Structures on the Highway

There are approximately 1700 bridges and culverts crossing roads in Monmouthshire. Those carrying traffic or crossing the motorways or trunk roads are owned by the Welsh Assembly Government and maintained by Capita Gwent Consultancy in their role as Trunk Road Agents. 

Bridges over the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal are owned and maintained by British Waterways.

Most of the bridges that carry or cross railways are the responsibility of the Strategic Rail Network. 'Live' railways come under the remit of Network Rail and disused or abandoned railway bridges are managed by Rail Property.

There are other private owners of bridges including the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority.
 
Bridges & Culverts maintained by the Council
Monmouthshire County Council maintains over 1070 bridges & culverts well over half of which are masonry or brick arches.

Type                    Number          % of Stock
Masonry / brick       569                 53%
Concrete                332                  31%
Metal                      147                  14%
Other                       22                     2%

Bridge Construction Types (April 2003)

All County owned bridges are inspected on a two year rotation but larger, more complex structures have a more detailed inspection every 6 years.

Highway Retaining Walls
The purpose of a retaining wall is to support the road network and there are over 47 km (29 miles) of 'identified' retaining wall in Monmouthshire. On top of this there are many miles of retaining wall where the ownership is unclear. In these cases each wall needs to be checked individually.

Responsibility for the retaining wall depends upon who built it and for what purpose. Unless modern records are available which indicate definite responsibility, it is necessary to determine for who's benefit or enjoyment the wall was built.

Maintenance
Like most County Councils, Monmouthshire has a wide range of structures to look after. Every year we inspect about half of our bridges and retaining walls and we use this information to produce a maintenance works programme for the following year.

Some of the work that we carry out on our structures includes repairing damage caused by unreported accidents or replacing worn out elements. However the biggest threats to the integrity of a structure are water and vegetation.  An ivy clad bridge may look picturesque but if left unchecked, the spreading vegetation will break down mortar and eventually lead to significant damage or even collapse.

Capita Gwent Consultancy
Network Rail
British Waterways